The manufacture of computer, electronic, and optical products continued its downtrend in the third quarter of 2021 with an annual decline of -16.4 percent, the highest drop among the nine industries that recorded declines in annual growth rates.
However, most of the imported goods in August 2021 were also electronic products with an import value of $2.80 billion which accounted for 27.9 percent to the total imports.
Exports were primarily driven by increased global uptake of semiconductors, electronic data processing products, consumer electronics, and telecommunication products.
Interestingly, manufacturing activities in the computer and electronics industry slowed down to 96 percent in May 2021 from 108.3 percent in April this year.
Electronics, which make up 61% of all exports, grew by 25% compared to March last year. DTI secretary Ramon Lopez attributed this growth to chip demand due to upgrades to IT systems, new smartphones, auto demand, and automation.
The Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc. (SEIPI) has revised slightly upwards its industry growth outlook for this year but is still in negative territory to reflect the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The electronics sector, which accounts for over half of the country’s total merchandise exports, experienced a steep 18.8% decline in export value from January to May this year.
Six out of nine electronics exports groups reported positive growth for the first quarter despite the Covid-19 pandemic, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
